The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros

Biography Born December 20, 1954 in Chicago, IL Nationality – American Ethnicity – Mexican American Third of seven children; only surviving daughter Currently resides in San Antonio, TX

Cisneros’s Childhood Her family was constantly moving between Chicago and Mexico City Her family finally made a down payment on a house in a predominately Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago when she was 11 years old. The neighborhood and its characters would later become the inspiration for the novel, The House on Mango Street. Like the author, the main character also lives in Chicago, IL.

Education & Occupation Bachelor of Arts Degree- Loyola University – Chicago, 1976 Master of Fine Arts Degree – University of Iowa -1978 Novelist, Poet, Short story writer

Notable Works The House on Mango Street (1984) Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991)

What is a vignette? A short, well –written sketch or descriptive scene It does not have a plot It may reveal character, or mood, or tone It may have a theme or idea of its own that it wants to convey It is the description of the scene or character that is important Sandra Cisneros’ novel The House on Mango Street is written in a series of vignettes

What is Bildungsroman? a novel depicting someone’s growth from childhood to maturity The protagonist grows, learns, and changes in order to take their place in the world Sometimes referred to as a “coming of age” story German word

figurative or emotional DENOTATION VS. CONNOTATION The denotative definition is based on the________ definition of a word. The connotative definition is the________________________ meaning of a word. literal figurative or emotional